CNN Military Analyst Challenges Justification For U.S. Strikes On Venezuela: 'Bit Of A Stretch'

CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton on Saturday questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s justification of the nighttime operation to bomb Venezuela and capture its leader, Nicolas Maduro.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) cited Rubio’s reasoning on social media.

“He informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant,” Lee wrote Saturday, adding that the nighttime operation “likely falls” within the president’s authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an attack.

Leighton evaluated that assertion on “CNN This Morning Weekend.”

“Well, it’s a bit of a stretch, in terms of combining a law enforcement action with what actually is a military action,” he said. “So the actual removal of a head of state has all kinds of ramifications from an international law perspective and certainly from a military perspective.”